The No. 16-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team (19-3) will look for a tournament title to add to its 2014 Big Ten championship in this weekend's Big Ten Tournament. Michigan, the No. 1 seed for the fifth straight season, has earned a bye into quarterfinal action and will face the winner of Iowa/Michigan State on Friday morning (April 25) at 11 a.m. CDT. The event is being hosted by Northwestern in Evanston, Ill.

Dual-Match Format
This weekend's dual matches will be a contest for the best-of-seven team points. The dual will begin with three doubles matches consisting of eight-game pro sets. The team that wins two of these three matches will enter the singles competition with one of seven points. After a brief intermission, six singles matches will be played. Each singles match will be the best of three tie-break sets and worth one point towards the team competition. The overall dual match will be decided when one team secures four total points. Singles matches in progress when the dual match is clinched will be abandoned in postseason play.

WOLVERINE BITES

 Michigan enters the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 1 seed after winning its fifth straight Big Ten championship with an 11-0 record. Its streak of five in a row is the second longest in Big Ten history, behind Northwestern's 11 (1999-2009) and Indiana's nine (1987-95).

 Michigan is in search of its second Big Ten Tournament title, with its lone tourney championship coming in 1997.

 Michigan was the only team to go 11-0 during the Big Ten portion of the season, becoming the first team to go 11-0 since the Big Ten expanded.

 Michigan women's tennis is one of two U-M teams that carry a current streak of five or more consecutive Big Ten championships. Softball has won six in a row to join the women's tennis team.

 With one more win, Michigan will secure its fifth consecutive 20-win season. U-M has reached the 20-win plateau five other times (1997, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) in school history. Four of Michigan's 20-win seasons have happened under seventh-year head coach Ronni Bernstein.

 Michigan will face either Iowa or Michigan State on Friday (April 25) at 10 a.m. U-M knocked off both teams this season, defeating Michigan State, 6-1, to begin Big Ten action and shutting out Iowa on the road.

 With Michigan's fifth straight Big Ten title, senior Brooke Bolender became just the second player in U-M history to win four Big Ten championships. Mimi Nguyen (2010-13) was the first Wolverine to accomplish the feat.

 Since taking over at Michigan prior to the 2008 season, head coach Ronni Bernstein is 69-4 in Big Ten action. Bernstein's teams have won at least nine Big Ten matches in each of her seven seasons, including perfect seasons of 10-0 in 2010 and 2011 and this season's 11-0 mark.

 Michigan outscored its Big Ten opponents, 69-8, during conference play. U-M shut out six teams (Penn State, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Minnesota, Purdue) and yielded just one point to Michigan State, Wisconsin and Indiana. Northwestern (3) and Ohio State (2) were the only two teams to score multiple points against the Wolverines.

 Four Wolverines carry singles winning streaks of at least five matches into the weekend. Amy Zhu leads the way with 10 consecutive wins, Sarah Lee has won nine in a row, Kristen Dodge is at seven straight wins and Emina Bektas has won five straight matches. All nine Wolverines won their last match played.

 Brooke Bolender won her 118th doubles match over the weekend after teaming with Emina Bektas for a win against Purdue. Bolender is now No. 1 on the doubles wins list after passing the previous mark of 114. With a singles win against Purdue, Bolender is now alone at No. 2 on the singles wins list with 110. Denise Muresan set the singles record with 111 during her four-year career. Bolender holds the Michigan mark for combined singles and doubles wins in a career with 228.

 In dual matches, Michigan is 103-22 (.824) in singles play and 39-10 (.796) in doubles action. Overall, U-M is 189-64 (.747) in singles and 76-31 (.710) in doubles action for the season.

 Emina Bektas has won 22 of her last 24 singles matches and sports a 20-2 mark in dual matches at the No. 1 spot. She has already been named Big Ten Athlete of the Week three times this season and is currently ranked No. 9 by the ITA. Bektas already has 92 career singles wins, which ranks eighth all-time at U-M.

 Emina Bektas won her 34th singles match of the season against Purdue. For Bektas, it is her second 30-win season as she went 32-10 as a freshman during the 2011-12 season. Brooke Bolender holds the season record for wins at 35, set during her freshman campaign (2010-11).

 The top of the lineup has been effective for Michigan, with the Wolverines totaling a 39-5 record at No. 1 and No. 2 singles through 20 matches.

 The Wolverines have won 19 doubles points on the season, going 18-1 when winning the match's first point. U-M is 39-10 in doubles during dual-match play.

 Michigan comes in at No. 16 as a team in this week's edition of the ITA Rankings.

 Brooke Bolenderand Kristen Dodge will serve as Michigan's team captains this season. Bolender was named captain for the second straight season and Dodge is in her first year as a captain. It is the first time since the 2010-11 season that U-M has two captains.

 Senior Brooke Bolender is the team's lone senior this season, marking the third straight year that Michigan has featured just one senior.

UP NEXT Fri-Sun., May 9-11 -- at NCAA First and Second Rounds (Site TBA)